Main menu

Under the hood of Bentley's new V8

The Bentley Continental V8 debuted at the Detroit auto show. Photo by Bentley

Bentley's 500-hp V8 shares “over 90 percent” of its parts with the Audi version, despite boasting significantly more torque but less horsepower.

The power and torque differences are purely down to the different electronic tune of the two versions.

“The advantage of starting the design from the ground up in conjunction with Audi is that we could both get what we want out of the same design,” says engineering boss Brian Gush.

The key differences are minor ones, such as the dipstick, oil filler cap and engine cover. Bentley wanted a dipstick so that owners could check their oil; Audi didn't. So the Hungarian-built V8 is machined to take a dipstick, which Bentley fits at Crewe, England, while Audi plugs the hole in its design.

A polished-chrome-look oil filler is also a difference on the Bentley version, alongside a Bentley-only, specially insulated engine cover. The latter is needed because the V8's twin turbos are mounted in the V on top of the engine, with little clearance to the Continental V8's hood skin.

The installations of the V8 in the Continental V8 and the Audi RS8/RS6 also are different. Bentley uses its own two-position switchable active mounts; Audi has a different active system.

“That's just due to the different NVH requirements in the different body shells, particularly with cylinder deactivation,” says Gush.

Both the Bentley and Audi versions use cylinder deactivation, based on the system introduced on the Mulsanne. While Audi includes a cockpit display to let the driver know when the V8 is running as a four-cylinder, Bentley doesn't.

The all-alloy V8 is lighter than the W12, reducing the weight in the nose of the Continental.